Thus I have given you a brief account of the different steps in our progress to our present state of prosperity. It has furnished us with churches which are every way suitable to the wants of a com­munity, and school houses which are second to none in comfort and convenience; and manufactures which are the life and source of our prosperity.

There is still room for others to come in and use the means which nature has furnished; and no doubt there would be an increase of manufactures if proper means were used to bring these advantages to the knowledge of men of capital, who have money to invest and are seeking for profitable em­ployment of it.

It is desirable that the water power should be all employed, and there would be a large increase of manufactures of every kind, if it was known what advantages in that direction are here unemployed, and it would bring a large addition to our popula­tion, and cause a great increase in the value of our real estate.

As we stand at this point and look back upon the privations and labors which our predecessors have gone through, and see how many comforts and advantages we have inherited, we can hardly realize how short the time is since the work was first begun. Those early laborers, so far as we know, have all passed away but one. Henry Wetmore we believe to be the only man who was here at the beginning. He has seen every step of the progress, from the first emigration to the present time, and has been an active participant in all these changes, since the day he broke through the thickets and marked the place where the first work should be done. But he can look back upon it all with honest pride and feel that he has left a record without a blot; and that how­ever things have resulted from subsequent action, those early steps were all honorably taken, and that none of those nefarious schemes for individual wealth, which have been so often seen in early settlements, were undertaken here.

Instead of the comfortable and commodious churches which we occupy, those who came first were obliged to meet in school houses and other inconvenient places, and the services in which they joined were irregular and unfrequent.

The school houses were of the humblest kind, with slabs for seats and puncheons for floors; and the hill of science which was set before them to climb was not by any means elevated. But now we see the noblest building in every town to be the school house, and the best salaries paid for any service, those of the teachers in our public schools. The course of instruction adopted in them is so elevated, that it is but a step from the high school to the college classes. Libraries and apparatus are furnished, and all cheerfully paid for by a tax upon the people.

That there has been a great gain in these respects, there can be no dispute; and we trust that those to whom they have been committed will be faithful to the duty which their possession imposes, and that no influence will be allowed to detract from their efficient use, or the power they ought to have in maintaining our institutions.

To these boys and girls who will soon take our places in the responsibilities of the nation, we commit these sacred treasures which have been pur­chased at such a cost of labor and money; and we cannot doubt that if they are faithful to the princi­ples which animated our fathers, that these institu­tions will be perpetuated to the end of time. It is only in subordination to the principles which God has made known to us, that we can hope to see them preserved; and it is the influence which they have, maintained that has kept the nation these hundred years, and brought us such prosperity; and in them is our hope for the future.

It was not the number of our soldiers, nor the wealth of the people that carried us through the struggle, and enabled our forefathers to resist suc­cessfully the oppressions of the mother country, and established themselves as a free government; but it was the righteousness of their cause, and the soundness of the principles for which they contended. It must be the same influences and causes which will prevent such disorganization as shall be fatal to our national existence.

There must be elected to our offices men of in­corruptible integrity, who will be seduced by no personal considerations, from the faithful adminis­tration of justice; and to have such rulers we must have a people who are too firmly grounded in the principles of morality and religion to allow them­selves to be induced to put any man into power who is not of tried integrity.

Here then is our country's hope, in the youth which are being trained in moral and religious prin­ciples, and taught the obligations which lie upon us, to do to all men as we would have them do to us. To do this we must know our duty and be ready to make the sacrifices which are necessary to carry them into practice; and it is only in the inculcation of the principles of the Christian religion that these can be made to have their influence upon the mass of the people, and guide them into such paths as shall make this nation the model for the world's imitation, and a refuge for the oppressed of every land.

One hundred years ago and our ancestors were battling with a powerful nation against the wrongs which were heaped upon them in the weak condition of colonists, and whose strength was all needed to wring a subsistence from a soil burdened with gigan­tic forests; but their characters had been formed under the hardships they had endured, and the broad land where they had sought refuge had in­spired them with feelings which could not brook the imposition of burdens by those who were living in luxury upon the money the extorted from them by unjust taxes upon the necessaries of life. They were few in number, but they were strong in their sense of justice; and after repeated protests against the oppression, they rose to resist it. Feeble as they were, the good hand of God was with them, and after much privation and suffering they attained their purpose, and were acknowledged by the whole world as an independent nation.

The principles which led to this result have led to all we see at the close of one hundred years; and we have the assurance from this experience, that the way to perpetuate these blessings, is to continue to practice the same virtues which made our fathers what they were. This will make us a strong, united and happy people. But if selfishness, dishonesty and political corruption too often affect the counsels of our rulers, and we introduce an element into our body politic, which will result in our destruction, and we shall be numbered among those who have abused their privileges, and so have gone down to dishonor and political death.

It ought to be the wish and effort of every patriot, who inherits the results of all these struggles and hardships, to make the beginning of a new century the time for a new dedication of himself to the promo­tion of such principles as shall make them the means of still greater benefits. He should rid himself of all connection with those who seek political power for party ends, and determine that he will be accessory to the elevation of no man to power, who seeks it for other than patriotic ends. Recent events have given us warning of the existence of such men in many departments of government, as make their place a means of dishonest gain; and it is our duty to see to it that their example shall not be followed in time to come; but pit at the head of this government a man who shall be above the suspicion of dishonesty, and whose record in the past is with­out a blot. Such a man will not put any man into a place of responsibility, whose character for honesty is not known, and he will be as blind to all personal considerations as Justice herself.